upon Agatha sitting outside the house. She glanced
at his face when he sat down beside her.

"Ah," she said, "you have had the summons."

Wyllard nodded. "Yes," he replied, "that man was the skipper of a
schooner I once sailed in. He has come to tell me where those three men
are."

He told her what he had heard, and the girl was conscious of mingled
admiration and fear, the fear of losing him from her everyday life.

"You are going up there to search for them?" she asked. "Won't it cost
you a great deal?"

She saw his face harden as he gazed at the tall wheat, but his
expression was resolute.

"Yes," he admitted, "that's a sure thing. Most of my money is locked up
in this crop, and there's need of constant watchfulness and effort until
the last bushel's hauled in to the elevators. It probably sounds
egotistical, but now I've got rid of Martial I can't put my hand on any
one as fit to see the thing through as I am. Still, I have to go without
delay. What else could I do?"

"Wouldn't the Provincial Government of British Columbia or your
authorities at Ottawa take the matter up?"

Wyllard shook his head. "It wouldn't be wise to give them an
opportunity. For one thing, they've had enough of sealing cases, and
that isn't astonishing. We'll say they applied for the persons of three
British subjects who are supposed to be living somewhere in Russian
Asia--and for that matter I couldn't be sure that two of them aren't
Americans--the Russians naturally inquire what the men were doing there.
The answer is that they were poaching for the Russians' seals. Then the
affair on the beach comes up, and there's a big claim for compensation
and trouble all round. It seems to me the last thing those men--they're
practically outlaws--would desire would be to have a Russian expedition
sent up on their trail. They would want to lie hidden until they could
somehow get off again."

"But how have they lived up there? The whole land is frozen, isn't it,
most of the year?" she questioned.

"They had sealing rifles, and the Koriaks make out farther north in
their roofed-in pits. One can live on seal and walrus meat and blubber."

Agatha shivered. "But they had no tents, nor furs, nor blankets. It's
horrible to imagine it."

"Yes," agreed Wyllard gravely; "that's why I'm going for them."

Agatha sat still a moment. She could realize the magnitude of the
sacrifice that he was making, and in some degree the hazards that he
must face.